Rosalyn Higgins
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The Lady Higgins DBE QC |
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Rosalyn Higgins, second from right, at the International Court of Justice.
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
Rosalyn C. Cohen 2 June 1937 |
| Nationality | British |
| Spouse(s) | Terence Higgins, Baron Higgins |
| Alma mater |
University of Cambridge Yale Law School |
| Occupation | Judge |
Rosalyn C. Higgins, Baroness Higgins, DBE, QC (born 2 June 1937, London) is the former President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). She was the first female judge elected to the ICJ, and was elected President in 2006. Her term of office expired on 6 February 2009. She was succeeded as President by Judge Hisashi Owada, and Sir Christopher Greenwood was elected in her place as Judge in the International Court of Justice.
Born to a Jewish family in 1937 as Rosalyn Cohen, she married the politician Terence Higgins in 1961 (Sir Terence from 1993, Lord Higgins since 1997).
She studied at Girton College, University of Cambridge receiving her B.A. degree in 1959 and an LL.B. degree in 1962. She was a Harkness Fellow between 1959 and 1961. Besides her undergraduate degrees, she also qualified with a M.A. degree. She continued her studies at Yale Law School earning a J.S.D. degree in 1962.
Following her education Higgins was a practising barrister, and became a Queen's Counsel (QC) in 1986, and is a bencher of the Inner Temple. She was elected to the Court as of 12 July 1995, re-elected as of 6 February 2000 and ended her second term on 6 February 2009.
Her professional appointments include:
Higgins is the author of several influential works on international law, including Problems and Process: International Law and How We Use It (1994). Despite delivering many balanced judgements in different cases, Higgin's dissenting opinion in the ICJ's advisory opinion on the Legality of the Threat or the Use of Nuclear Weapons has been widely criticised by some legal scholars, for it provides sovereign states with an unjustifiable amount of latitude in resort to the use of nuclear weapons in times of armed conflict.
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